Children and Children’s Authors Rally Behind School
Librarians

As B.C. school boards review budgets for the next year, school
children and children’s authors across British Columbia
have rallied to send a message to them: “Don’t
cut school librarians or school library hours any further!”

Asked by B.C. children’s authors to write letters
to school boards, school children from kindergarten through
high school responded.

“We do not have enough time in the school library,”
wrote Hannah, a seventh grader from Delta. “Only twice
a week is outrageous!”

The children’s letters are being sent to school board
members and principals around the province by the BC Coalition
for School Libraries (BCCSL). The letters were solicited by
the Children’s Writers and Illustrators of BC (CWILL
BC), with 150 members.

The number of teacher-librarians has dropped 20 per cent
since 2002, leaving only 18 percent of school libraries with
a full-time teacher-librarian, according to the BCCSL. B.C.
school libraries are receiving less than half the funding
recommended by the Canadian Association for School Libraries;
some receive none. Money to buy books and electronic information
has dwindled.

“This, despite research that demonstrates a clear link
between well-funded, well-staffed school libraries and literacy,”
says Mary Locke, a member of the BCCSL. “It’s
past time to draw a line in the sand. If everyone says they’re
concerned about literacy, why has the rug been pulled out
from under school libraries? School libraries should be the
No. 1 literacy project.”

“I am ten years old and our school library has helped
me in amazing ways,” grade-five Vancouver student Imara
wrote. “If you cut the salaries of our librarians and
reduce spending money for libraries, all the information and
learning that kids like me get will be much worse quality.”

“Please don’t take away my school librarian!”
wrote eight-year-old Aly. “When I need a book to help
me with my homework or research, she will know where to find
the book.”

“I would go to the school library every day if I could,”
wrote Ayano, age eleven. “I would be nothing if there
were no libraries.”
“Children’s authors have seen first-hand what
cuts to school libraries have done in recent years,”
says Pam Withers, a young-adult author and president of CWILL
BC. “So we decided to be proactive in soliciting these
letters, which are still coming in. We were overwhelmed by
the heartfelt messages, the crayoned drawings and the timely
response of children across the province.”

CWILL BC also worked with the BCCSL in collecting stories
of what reduced school library hours have done to kids, posted
with the children’s letters on www.bccsl.ca.